Toni Van Pelt on Pete Dominick’s Radio Show June 11, 2009

Toni Van Pelt, Policy Director of CFI’s Office of Public Policy, appeared on Stand Up! with Pete Dominick on Tuesday 9 June. The show is featured on Sirius 110 and XM 130 satellite radio.
Toni talked about a news article that appeared earlier in the day in a Capitol Hill newspaper Politico . The article, entitled “Atheists Keep Faith with Obama,” included quotations from Toni and Nathan Bupp, director of communications for the Center for Inquiry. Referring to her group as “nonbelievers” and “secular humanists,” Toni emphasized the need to tread lightly on certain issues, in order to avoid a backlash. “Pragmatically, there are some really serious things that we need to focus our work on.”
Pete directed the conversation to CFI’s current work on the Hill and one of the most important issues of the day Charitiable Choice. Toni recounted the history of Charitable Choice and what it meant in the fight to tear down the wall separating church and state. CFI performed a detailed historical study of federal funding for faith-based programs, extending from the rise of “charitable choice” legislation during the Clinton administration through the explosion of taxpayer funding for religious programs under George W. Bush’s Faith Based and Community Initiative. Charitable Choice and Faith Based Initiatives are the most potent weapons being used in the battle today. For more information on this crucial issue please read the CFI position paper. Toni may be heard on the Pete Dominick show from time to time–a “semi-regular,” as Pete said on air. Stay tuned to an important voice for secular humanism.
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